A shaft of lightThe revival of Ponte is a potent symbol of Johannesburg’s renewal

IN 1976 Africa’s most glamorous residence opened in downtown Johannesburg. Ponte City, a cylindrical brutalist skyscraper stretching 54 storeys, was built for yuppies who had flocked to the city, often from Europe. It was reserved for the wealthy—three-storey penthouses had wine cellars, saunas and jacuzzis— and for whites. The only black residents were servants, in whose quarters windows had to be at least six feet off the ground, lest they see into whites’ rooms.

Almost as soon as it opened, however, Ponte City began its decline. In 1976 the suppression of an uprising in Soweto, a black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, ushered in sanctions and boycotts, crimping South Africa’s economy. Whites fled inner cities for the suburbs because of rising crime in the 1980s. In moved blacks, and to a lesser extent coloureds and Indians, fleeing townships. Migrants from the rest of Africa soon joined. The share of blacks in Johannesburg’s inner-city increased from 20% in 1983 to 85% by 1993. This mixing, known as “greying,” was illegal. The city cut off services to the Ponte building and landlords cared little for maintenance.

By the 1990s Ponte was a vertical slum. The 11th and 12th floors were stripped bare and turned into drug dens and brothels. There was no waste collection, so residents threw rubbish into the cylinder’s inner core. At its peak the detritus reached the 14th floor. Dead bodies were later found among the rubbish. “My mum used to tell us to work hard at school or you’ll end up in Ponte like the rest of the failures,” recalls Bijou Dibu, who grew up in nearby Hillbrow.

Today, however, living in Ponte is becoming a mark of success. The Kempston Group, which owns the building, cleared and renovated the tower from 2008 to 2012. For the first time since 1976, it is fully, and legally, occupied.

Rents start at R3,200 ($223) a month, and there is a waiting list. Three of the top-floor flats are available for daring tourists via Airbnb. The inaugural jazz evening at the top-floor bar was held on August 25th.

The revival of Ponte is often lumped in with the gentrification taking place in parts of inner-city Johannesburg. This is most notable in Maboneng, where hipsters gather at a market on Sundays to coo over minimalist lampshades.

There are some enterprising artsy types, including a few from Europe, in Ponte City. But if it is undergoing gentrification it is by people selling avocados in supermarkets rather than eating them in cafés. Its residents are overwhelmingly black and working-class. They may not be able to afford to move to suburbs, but they can spend a little more on rent to live in a building with 24-hour security. That counts for a lot when the surrounding areas are dangerous. Hillbrow has a murder rate of more than 70 people per 100,000, akin to some of the most violent cities in Mexico. When you are on the 54th floor, that can seem a long way away.

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